Alright, we're here in Romans chapter 16, and the first sermon was kind of the Mother's Day sermon.
I know it's kind of rough. You're like, I've never heard of Genesis 19, Mother's Day sermon.
But actually the second sermon kind of touches on women a lot as well. It's a very encouraging sermon, I believe.
And so the first point is this in Romans 16, is the importance of women, the importance of women.
And you know, it's kind of amazing how when you preach sermons, how things light up.
Because I write my sermons in advance, and I literally didn't know until earlier this week as I'm looking at my sermons.
I'm like, oh wow, this is good. I'm talking about the Mother's Day sermon, and then the importance of women in the next sermon.
So, you know, I believe that's what God would have for us.
But, notice verse number one.
I commend on you Phoebe our sister, which is a servant of the church, which is at Cintria.
Now in Romans 16, Paul is going to highlight all the people that are a blessing to him.
All the people that are important in church. And he starts with a woman.
He says, Phoebe our sister.
In fact, when you look at this list of Romans 16, you're going to have 28 names.
And I believe 10 of them are women, and 18 are men.
So a lot of these people are women.
It would kind of surprise you because you think of Paul the Apostle, John the Baptist.
And yet when Paul the Apostle is mentioning everybody that matters, many of those people are actually women.
Now go to Acts chapter 2.
I mean the names mentioned are Phoebe, Priscilla, Mary, Julia, Tryphena, Tryposa, Persis, Mother of Rufus, Julia, sister of nurses.
You're seeing a lot of women that are mentioned there.
And the context is in Romans 16 is about soul women.
Preaching the gospel, doing the work.
And look, both men and women can do the work of the Lord.
It's not just a job for men, it's a job for all of us.
All of us get to be involved in the most exciting work.
Acts 2 verse 14.
So this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel.
And so this was prophesied in the Old Testament.
It's being talked about here in Acts 2.
Verse 17.
So notice in verse 17 it says,
And your daughters.
It's not just the men that are going soul winning in Acts chapter 2.
It's the ladies as well.
And of course Acts chapter 2, the day of Pentecost, is when they're getting so many people saved.
But look, it's not just the men that are doing the work.
It's the ladies as well.
When it comes to preaching the gospel, this is for everybody.
Now look, this seems very basic and yet at a lot of Baptist churches they kind of have this idea,
well the men go off to do the soul winning and it's just the mom's job to raise the kids and save Acts.
No, it means everybody's job to go soul winning.
Everybody should be preaching the gospel.
And look, ladies get a lot of people saved at our church.
With our salvations, we don't divide them between men and women because it doesn't matter to us, right?
But a lot of the salvations are from women, not from men.
Why? Well ladies can do the work as well.
Verse 18.
I will pour out of those states my spirit and they shall prophesy.
Now turn to your Bible to Acts 21.
Acts 21.
Acts chapter 21.
And look, this should be encouraging to all the ladies in this room because sometimes, you know,
the world makes it feel like the Bible is competing toward women.
It's like, well how dare the Bible say that there's supposed to raise the kids and everything.
You know, the most exciting thing that we can do in this life in a spiritual standpoint is preach the gospel and get it saved.
It's not fair I don't get to preach the sermon.
Look, the most important thing is going soul winning.
That's the most important thing that you can do is go out and preach the gospel.
And when it comes to a church getting a lot of salvations, that's a team effort.
It's not one big fancy altar call where everyone comes down.
No, it's a team effort going out and preaching the gospel.
Acts 21 verse 18.
And the next day we that were a false company departed came unto see Syria.
And we entered into the house of Philip the Evangelist, which was one of the seven, and abode with him.
Notice verse 9.
And the same man had four daughters, virgins, which did prophesy.
So this man, Philip the Evangelist, has four daughters that are preaching the gospel, prophesying, getting people saved.
It's not saying he had four daughters that were pastors.
I don't know if you realize this, Billy Graham, can you remember when his daughter or his daughter-in-law was a pastor or something?
And he was so excited about how she was godly.
It's referring to women preaching the gospel.
It's not referring to them being pastors because it says that the man desired the office of the bishop.
Now turn in your Bible to Mark 16.
When it comes to the most important job we do as a church, that is preaching the gospel and getting people saved.
We have a lot of godly ladies at our church that are out there preaching the gospel, but we want everybody involved in this work.
That's why I talk about it's not retirement time.
We have kids. Why would you want to retire from soul winning?
And it is difficult taking kids out of soul winning.
One thing you can always try is taking turns in soul winning.
One time the husband does, the next time the wife does, and you need to stay with the kids or whatever.
It is very difficult. It's not very easy.
Earlier this week I was soul winning a few times, so yesterday, as it's really hot out there,
it's hard in the area we're going, I stayed back with the kids at Heaven's Papers and my wife went preaching the gospel.
So I want to make sure my wife has time to preach the gospel.
It's important for everybody doing the work.
And here's the thing, soul winning is exciting, so it's going to encourage you to keep serving God and doing the work.
If you just retire, you might become numb to the preaching and become numb to this kind of church
because you're not really out there doing the work as much.
And it can kind of just go over your head something and you can start to lose the love for the things of God.
Mark 16 verse 15. That's what it says.
Mark 16 verse 15.
And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
See the Bible says in Mark 16 verse 15, go ye into all the world.
This is not just men, it's also referring to women. Go ye is referring to everybody.
Going soul winning, we are part of a spiritual battle.
It's spiritual warfare.
I want you to realize the battlefield, the physical battlefield of war is no place for a lady.
Actually going there and being killed and then shooting at people, that's no place for a lady in an actual war where people are trying to kill you.
That's why when they went out to battle, it's like, in our hymnal, stand up for Jesus, ye that are men now served.
The reason why it's saying that is because it's likening the spiritual battle to warfare.
And when you went out to war, you numbered the men because the ladies aren't out there fighting the battles.
Now I realize in today's world, there are women that are in the military and fighting the battles and risking their lives.
But you know what, the battlefield has always historically been a place for men to fight in the honor of God.
But see the Bible says, go ye into all the world.
It doesn't say go ye men and fight this battle.
Because the physical battle of war is meant to be between men of different countries.
But the spiritual battle is not go ye men, it's go ye into all the world.
Because women should be involved in the war.
Turn your Bible to Romans 16.
I mean, the world has become a pretty crazy place, right?
Because all these things are being changed.
Now you got, you know, professional women's boxing, professional women's UFC ultimate fighting and everything.
It's become a pretty crazy world, okay?
That's not really how the world used to be.
And you wouldn't have women out there, you know, wielding a sword versus someone.
Because look, they're going to get killed if they're fighting out there with swords.
They're just not going to be as strong as the men.
It's not a place for the ladies to be out there in the battle of an actual war.
That is for men.
You say, well I don't know, brother second, that sounds sexist.
Well, I mean, in the Bible, you see the women going off to war.
You see the men fighting those battles, okay?
The Bible is not degrading to women.
All these other religions degrade women, though.
It's like people try to criticize the Bible.
No, you know what, degrading to women? How about Islam?
Right.
It's like, look, I believe women ought to be modest, but I don't say you got to cover up your entire body and everything.
Right, like Islam, just cover up your face and everything. Nobody can see you.
It's like, what in the world?
Right?
Islam is degrading to women.
And many areas of Islam, you know, there's men married to like 30 different women.
They marry them when they're young.
They follow the Quran with their prophet.
Marry them when they're, you know, eight years old or six years old or whatever.
It's like, the Bible is not degrading to women.
Do you see Jesus Christ doing that?
You know what's degrading to women? How about Hinduism?
How about in India, how when the husband dies, the wife sacrifices her body to the family?
You say, well, that's in the past.
Yeah, just a hundred years ago.
So for like 2,000 years, in the Vedic religion, when the husband dies, the woman burns herself to death to the family.
That sounds degrading to women.
Right?
It's a sodding practice.
You say, I don't know if I believe that. That sounds too hard to believe.
Well, look it up on Google.
Look it up, a sodding practice based on the scriptures of Hinduism where Shiva's wife died.
And so what happened in that culture in India?
Well, you know what, when the husband died, the wife was burned to death to atone for the sins of the family.
And the Bible is degrading to women?
It sounds like these other religions are degrading to women, not the Bible.
What the Bible points out is just that there's a difference between men and women.
That's not degrading to women.
It's just highlighting something that everybody already knows.
There's a difference between men and women.
So point number one, Romans 16, Paul highlights the importance of women.
Point number two, Paul values other people.
Paul values other people.
I want you to realize that Paul the apostle was kind of the most famous person, the most famous Christian during his time period.
I mean, he's going off and getting all these churches started.
He's preaching the word of God.
He didn't know who he was.
Paul the apostle could have just walked in and said, hey, I'm the most famous person.
I'm the best Christian.
And yet he ends Romans by having a whole chapter just highlighting all the other people that are doing great work for God.
He doesn't lift himself up.
He puts himself down on the level of lots of people doing the work of God.
Now in today's world, there's a lot of pastors that lift themselves up above their congregation.
That's not what Paul does.
That's not what Moses did.
They brought them down on the level and just said, hey, I'm trying to serve God.
You're trying to serve God.
We're on the same team.
There's no reason to compare.
It says in Romans 16, verse 21,
Timotheus, my work fellow, and Lucius, and Jason, and Sosphature, my kinsmen salute you.
My churches who wrote these epistles salute you, the Lord.
Gives my own host, and of a whole church salute you.
Erastus, the chamberlain of the city, saluting you.
And Cortius, our brother.
So you see various people mentioned by Paul the Apostle.
And what he's trying to highlight is just that everybody matters.
Okay.
Go to Romans chapter 1.
Romans 1.
Romans chapter 1.
Look, as the leader, you should not try to lift yourself up and act like you're better than everybody at church.
That's not what Paul the Apostle did.
Okay.
He brought himself down.
He's like, I'm trying to serve God.
You're trying to serve God.
There's lots of people doing work.
And last I checked, when it comes to 2,832 salvations, I don't have over 2,000 of those salvations.
Our church gets a lot of people saved because it's a team effort.
There's lots of people doing work.
It'd be very foolish for me to stand up here and say, well, look at the great work I did.
Last I checked, we had a lot of people sold.
And last I checked, there was a lot of people getting saved.
It's not a one-day show.
Romans chapter 1, verse 8.
Romans 1, verse 8.
First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all.
So I mean, just notice the humble statement by Paul saying,
I'm thanking for you guys, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world.
For God is my witness to my service to my spirit in the gospel of the sun,
that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers.
Making requests if by any means, now or late, I might have a prosperous journey by the will of God to come.
For I long to see you, that I may impart on you some spiritual gift in the end, if ye may be established.
That is, that I may be comforted together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me.
And what Paul the Apostle is highlighting is the fact that the Romans were doing great works for God,
and he said, basically, that he needed them.
He said, if I'm with you, we can comfort one another.
Look, if our church, if nobody went soul winning, I really wouldn't be that motivated to go on my own,
because you need other people to kind of push you to do the work.
I mean, we have so many times, and when you have so many times, it's really easy to go, right?
But think about if we didn't have a soul winning time on Sunday.
Would people go soul winning? Probably not.
Maybe some weeks you'd be zealous, but it would kind of die off.
Right.
The reality is, we go soul winning on Sunday, we have 35 people out there.
Look, many of us, including myself, sometimes, we just don't feel like going, but it's what we do.
It's our routine, right? And so you just keep it up, and then other people encourage you to do that work.
And Paul was smart enough to realize, I'm not a one man show.
He said, I am helped by, you can go to Romans 12. Romans chapter 12.
Romans 12.
I mean, if Paul the Apostle could humble himself, I think any pastor should be willing to say,
I'm not the greatest thing in the world, right?
You know, it's like, we have a successful church because everybody's doing the work.
Not lifting themselves up.
Paul the Apostle brought himself down.
Romans 12 verse 4.
Whereas we have many members in one body, and all members have them at the same office.
And so there's many members in one body.
And what the Bible likens the local church to is to a body.
And when you have a body, you have many hearts, or many members of that body.
Right? You have eyes, you have ears, you have nose, you have lots of hearts.
Your hands, your feet have many hearts.
So we think many are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.
Now, not every member has the same office.
Right? I mean, different things do different things.
On my body, my ears have a different function than my eyes.
My eyes have a different function than my nose.
My nose has a different function than my hands.
You say, Brother Stuckey, which body parts the most important?
That's a dumb question.
I believe that I'm fearfully and wonderfully made by God the Bible says.
I believe every body part is important.
You know, in evolution, they teach something called a vestigial organ.
And what a vestigial organ is, they say,
Wow, you know, we've been evolving for like hundreds of millions of years,
and some parts of our body are no longer useful.
They were useful, you know, back when we were whatever animals.
Right? 20 million years ago.
And now they're just not useful anymore.
I don't believe that.
I believe every single part of our body has a value.
And what's funny about this is with evolution,
they've got a big list of vestigial organs.
That list keeps getting a little bit smaller.
It's like, oh, wow, we discovered the use for this.
I thought that was like a useless body part.
No, actually, every body part, God made me matter.
There is no vestigial organ.
And in a church, every single person matters.
There is no vestigial organ.
Every part and every member matters.
I enjoy it, gang.
Verse 10, be kindly affection one to another with brotherly love
in honor of preferring one another.
So if I was saying that you know of one body,
you ought to prefer and care about other people more than yourself.
Okay?
Go to Ephesians chapter 4.
Ephesians 4.
And I want you to realize you're turning to Ephesians 4.
You know, the Bible gives terminology and words
so we can make applications.
And sometimes we might not understand them,
but there's a reason why the Bible says the church is like a body.
Just think with me logically for a second.
Let's say you have your two feet, okay?
And then your right foot says, I want to go this way.
And your left foot says, I want to go this way.
How successful are you going to be in life?
Right?
One foot wants to go this way, one foot wants to go the other way.
And you have an infrastructure like that.
You have different doctrines, people believe different things,
different Bible versions.
It's madness.
It's chaos.
I mean, imagine if my feet decide I'm heading this way,
but my eyes say, I want to look this way.
It's like, well, good luck.
You're going to walk out into a car, right?
And you say, that's a silly example,
but yet the Bible is giving the example of a body.
And what the Bible is saying is everybody matters
and you need to be on the same page.
You need to be united together as a church,
not you're going this way, going this way, this way.
No, you've got to be united together as one, as a church,
to be successful.
Just like with a body, you have to be on the same page.
I mean, imagine doing bitch press
if your right hand wants to lift the bar, the left hand doesn't.
You're just going to smash right on your back.
Right?
You need to be on the same page as a church
and every part of the body needs to have the same direction
and the same point.
This is what it talks about in Ephesians chapter 4, verse 11.
And he gave some apostles and some prophets
and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers
for the perfecting of the saints for the work of the ministry
for the edifying of the body of Christ.
With a local body, you're given different people
who run churches to preach the sermons and kind of organize things.
You have pastor-run churches at various churches.
At this church, which is a church plant,
I'm the evangelist preaching the sermons and organizing and writing.
Because once again, you have to be on the same page.
And if people are co-equal at a church, it's going to be chaos.
What happens when one person says this and the other person says this?
One person says, I'm all about the children's ministry
and the other one says, no, I'm against that.
Well, you've got a church split.
You've got to have one person that's in charge running things
because people don't always agree on everything.
I mean, all of us are trying to serve God and do what's right
but the reality is we have different opinions on things.
We run a church differently. We have different directions.
And you know what? That's okay.
Different people can do things differently,
but the key is that a church is on the same page.
And so it says here in verse 13,
So we all come in the unity of the faith,
a unified church body,
and of the knowledge of the Son of God
unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the Son
of the stature of the fullness of Christ,
that we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro
and carried about with every wind of doctrine
by the sight of men in cunning trashiness,
whereby they lie in wait to deceive.
But speaking the truth in love may grow up unto him
in all things, which is the head, even Christ,
from whom the whole body fitly joined together,
every body part fitly joined together,
and compacted by that which every joint supplieth,
according to the effectual working in the measure of every part.
The Bible's saying every body part effectually works,
meaning it's positive on the body.
Every body part is helpful.
Every body part is united together as one
and the effectual working,
meaning the mutual faith of us, we encourage one another.
With some people going soul winning,
it encourages other people to go soul winning.
When people are reading the Bible,
other people want to read the Bible.
We encourage one another.
That's why God has a system of local churches.
He doesn't just have you randomly serving God on your own somewhere,
because honestly you just wouldn't be that effective.
Why? Because every body part is effectually working in you.
How do you know that?
Just think about you that have been Baptist for a long time.
Before you came to this church,
you probably didn't go soul winning as much.
You probably didn't read the Bible as much.
You probably weren't serving God quite as zealously.
Why is that?
Because we have a unified body that's encouraging us
to do the work.
So when we get down in our Christianity a little bit,
other people encourage us to keep doing the work.
Then it says,
Make an increase of the body
unto the edifying of itself in love.
So it's talking about being a unified, local body.
Now turn back to Romans 16.
Romans 16.
He had a lot of churches.
In fact, most churches,
they're not really that united in what they believe.
I mean, you talk to people,
and they can believe all kinds of different things.
We run into people out soul winning all the time
from various backgrounds,
and what denomination they're from
doesn't necessarily tell you what they believe.
Sometimes people will tell me that they believe Jesus is God
from these various different cults,
and I'm like,
No, you don't. You're not supposed to.
It's like your church,
but they don't really teach things of these churches.
Or how about being at a Baptist church
where you're going out soul winning,
and you know you're taking turns.
Somebody's a speaker. Someone's a silent partner.
You preach the gospel and say,
Hey, by faith alone, believe on Jesus, eternal security.
You get done with the conversation.
Your soul winning partner criticizes you for taking too long
and going in-depth on eternal security.
Man, that conversation should have just been five minutes.
Then it's their turn, and they say,
Hey, if you just give your life to God
and repent of your sins and pray this prayer,
that's the sort of church you want to be a part of?
Where you got to get in fights out soul winning
with your soul winning partner?
But this is reality at a lot of Baptist churches.
It's like there's just different doctrines in the church.
They believe different things.
It's madness. It's chaos. It's not a unified body.
And look, you are welcome to believe the things that you believe.
You are not forced.
We don't have a church membership
where you're forced to believe this, this, this, and this.
Here's your Bible college degree. You're not married.
Go ahead and be a pastor.
There's no other type of church.
But I am saying, when the word of God is preached,
people are going to be on the same page on the things that matter.
Look, I have confidence that if somebody went around this room
and asked people, Hey, what's your opinion on Calvinism?
It's not going to be a very positive opinion that did church.
You say, Why? Well, I'm pretty sure I preach that into the ground all the time.
But at a lot of churches, they're not unified at all.
I mean, I preach a sermon, and then people are like,
Man, that's not what it says in my NIV.
That's not what it says in my New King James.
Right? I mean, in mine it says Jesus is not God. Right?
But that's the reality at a lot of Baptist churches.
And look, it shouldn't be this way at Baptist churches.
It should be this way with the Catholic churches, not the Baptist churches.
Get in today's world, if you call yourself a Baptist,
well, that doesn't necessarily mean you're a Baptist.
I think some of these churches, as they put the name on their sign,
I think some of them are just bad at spelling.
It's like, No, no, no, no, M-E-T-H-O-D-I-S-T.
You're meant to put meth in it.
Or no, P-R-E-S-B-Y-T-E-R-I-N.
You're meant to put Presbyterian.
It's like, Oh, you're teaching repentance of sin?
You're meant to put C-H-T-H-O-L-I-C on your sign.
You misspelled the word Baptist.
You misspelled the word Catholic, and you're not a Baptist.
Right? And it's like these churches,
I mean, they're infiltrators to being a Baptist.
That's not historically what a Baptist is.
I don't know why they choose to call themselves that.
Go to Romans 16.
Point number one in Romans 16, we see the importance of women.
Point number two, we see that Paul valued other people.
But point three, he values other people based on the work that they do.
Not based on how much money you give in the offering place.
Not based on how talented you are at singing.
But based on the work you do.
Now, if by all means, if God has blessed you with being a very good singer,
then absolutely, you know, you can be part of the choir,
you can do the song leading and stuff like that.
But Paul highlights in Romans 16 the work that people are doing.
It says in Romans 16, verse 1,
I commend on you C.D. our sister, which is a servant of the church which is at Cintria.
When you think of a servant, you're thinking of someone who serves,
someone who's doing work, right?
And he highlights her, not because she's the most talented person in the world,
we don't even know anything about her,
but that she's working, that she's serving.
Verse 2, that ye receive her in the Lord as become a saint,
and that ye assist her in whatsoever business she hath need of you,
for she hath been a sucker of many, or a help of many, and of myself also.
Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my helpers in Christ Jesus.
If you're helping, you are working, right?
Verse 4, who have from my lace laid down their own necks,
unto whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles.
Verse 6, greet Mary, who bestowed much talent upon us.
Is that what it says?
But so much labor on us.
It's the work that she did.
Salute Urbane, our helper in Christ.
And Saccus, my beloved.
Verse 12, salute Tricina and Trifosa, who labor in the Lord.
What is labor?
Labor is hard work, okay?
Not just work, but hard work.
We go soul winning out here in May and June and July and August.
It's hard work.
I mean, it's work to go soul winning in January, it's labor to go soul winning in May.
Right? It's hot out there.
And it says, salute my beloved, which labored much in the Lord.
So look, the highlights that Paul is making is not just on people that are part of a church,
not the person who gives the most money in the offering plate,
not the person who's doing this or that or has whatever,
but the people that are working, people that are doing the work.
Look, I promise you, the names of these people led many people to the Lord.
That is the main work that we do, right?
And so preaching the Gospel, getting people saved, that is what Paul the Apostle is highlighting.
Now, maybe you didn't realize that as you're reading through Romans 16,
but when you really break it down, he's talking about soul winning, soul winning, soul winning.
Brother Stuckey, why do you always talk about soul winning?
Why does the Bible always talk about soul winning?
I mean, I'm just preaching verse by verse through the Bible.
Tell me how to preach through Romans 16 when Paul talks about labor, labor, labor.
Try to apply this to money.
I don't know how you do it. I'm sure that they do it.
I don't know how.
But it's like the highlight is the labor, the work that they're doing.
That is what Paul the Apostle is highlighting. Why?
Because what matters is the work that we do for God.
Go to 1 Corinthians 3. 1 Corinthians 3.
Look, this is a big encouragement to all of us.
You say, why, Brother Stuckey?
Because many of you, when you were a kid,
your dream was to become the next Michael Jordan or the next LeBron James.
When I was a kid, my dream was to be the greatest basketball player
and greatest soccer player and greatest football player
and greatest, the best at every sport.
You dream about that as a kid.
It's game seven, NBA Finals, down by one, you got the shot, you hit that game winner.
I hate to break it to you.
I don't want to break your heart.
All of us are too short to be the next Michael Jordan.
None of us are tall enough.
I mean, literally, this is what my dad told me as a kid
because I like three sports as a kid, soccer, basketball, and baseball.
Now, my dad is about five inches shorter than me.
He's a good bit shorter than me.
My dad said, and realize that in America,
people are generally a little bit taller on average than people in the Philippines,
and basketball players are over six feet tall.
Even the guys that you think are short, like Stephen Curry, man, he's so small.
No, actually, he's like this above us.
But literally, my dad told me, son, I don't think basketball is the sport for our family.
We're just not tall enough.
My dad said, why don't you play another sport?
Because literally, you have to be very tall.
Or maybe you couldn't be a pro athlete because you just weren't fast enough.
And look, I know as a kid they try to teach you, you can be anything that you want to be.
Well, that's a lie. That's not true.
Some of you just were not talented enough, not fast enough to do what you wanted to do.
You weren't quick enough. You couldn't jump high enough. You weren't tall enough.
But when it comes to the spiritual realm, being a great Christian, you know what?
You have all the talent you need.
I don't even need to know anything about you.
I don't need to know what skills or talents because it's based on the work you do.
It's not based on the talent.
Most of us would have never been able to become a pro this or a pro that or a fulfiller.
But you know what? You have the ability to be a great Christian.
Because if you are a soul winner and getting people saved and reading your Bible,
you are a very successful Christian.
When it comes to serving God, it's not about the talent.
It's about the work.
It's about the determination to do something.
I mean, you run into people that are just very gifted people being very charismatic,
very good speakers, very talented people, but they don't go soul winning.
It's like, man, you're wasting your talent.
And certainly they could use that talent out of soul winning
because they would be very good at getting in conversations maybe other people wouldn't be able to do.
But you know what? You're much better off having a very shy and awkward person
that's just doing the work.
Because even the shy and awkward person still gets lots of people saved.
Because in general, the people that we get saved,
they get saved because they're actually interested
and they would listen to anybody who actually came to them.
It's not about what you look like. It's not about how tall you are.
It's not about what color. It's like, man, I'm going soul winning.
Am I going to wear blue or green? This could affect somebody's eternity.
No, it won't.
What does affect people's eternity is are you actually doing the work?
And Paul the Apostle, he highlights those that are doing the work.
Why? Because that's the determination whether or not you're a successful Christian or not.
Look, there are churches that have Baptist churches that are five times as big as us.
Lots of very talented people. But if they're not doing the work, what good is it?
What difference does it make?
Who cares how nice their building is? Who cares how big their ties are?
Who cares how fancy their building is and what talent they have?
It's based on the work you do.
1 Corinthians 3, notice this in verse 6.
1 Corinthians 3, verse 6.
1 Corinthians 3 really highlights the work because it talks about the judgment seat of Christ
and being rewarded for our efforts and our work.
Verse 6.
I have planted a polished water, but God gave the increase.
So neither is He that planteth anything, neither is He that waters, but God that giveth the increase.
What that's indicating is basically we go out and preach the gospel
and sometimes, you know what, you're so warning, not so winning.
Sometimes you preach the gospel and they don't get saved.
That doesn't mean it's your fault.
You can't force people to believe on Jesus.
I wish you could. Wouldn't that be great?
If you could force people to get saved, I mean, many of us, probably all of us, have some unsafe family.
Wouldn't you love to force your mom or your dad or your brother or your sister or your cousin to believe on Jesus?
We go soul winning.
Sometimes they listen and they're like, I don't know if I believe that, or they say they disagree.
We can't force them to get saved.
Sometimes all you're doing is planting and then sometimes somebody comes along and waters it
and sometimes on the second and third and fourth time that's when they get saved.
Verse 8.
Now He that planteth and He that waterth are one.
Every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor.
So look, according to verse 8, you are rewarded based on your own labor, your own work.
I remember several years back I heard a sermon, which is a terrible sermon.
He was someone who used to be in the New ISB and it turned out he was actually always been a Pentecostal inside.
He got saved on a soul winning demonstration as a Pentecostal.
Turns out he was always a Pentecostal.
But he preached the sermon at the prophecy conference in the US, which is like a big conference in our type of church.
And he preached that you get rewarded based on what church you're at.
So if a church has 50 members and you get 100 salvation for the week, everybody gets credit for two.
It's equal.
I mean you're trying to encourage people to go soul winning and then you throw out this communist philosophy.
Everyone gets an equal amount whether they do anything.
And it's like in the passage he tried to use was a story of David where basically 200 stayed behind to watch the stuff because they were too faint to go to the battle.
And 400 went out and they brought back everything and then the reprobates rose up and said don't give anything to the 200 and David says everybody parts alike.
Now first off, that's a story.
Of course you can make application from that story, but you don't overhaul clear verses and passages in the Bible.
Not to mention overhauling common sense.
But here's the thing.
The part he missed about that is the 200 that didn't go.
It's not because they refused to go.
It's because they were too faint, meaning they weren't able to go.
And I think a good application is this, that you know what?
There might be some people that are just as excited to go out to the battlefield, but they're just not able to for various different reasons.
Maybe as they get older it's a little bit more difficult.
Maybe they're really sick.
Maybe they're eight and a half months pregnant.
And it's like I do believe, I don't know how God will determine the rewards, but I do believe God will factor that in.
But a dumb application would be just show up to whatever church is preaching the gospel the most and then just be a member there.
You know what would end up happening?
If new people join that church and they don't go so in, you wouldn't want them to come.
Because they lower down the number of salvations.
It's like man, I used to get two salvations a week.
Now I'm getting one and a half because we reached these new people.
It's like don't come to church.
Do not come to church unless you preach the gospel.
I mean this is ridiculous.
The Bible says you're rewarded based on your own labor, the own work you do.
And see here's the important thing about this.
It's the exact opposite of that sermon because you might be part of a church that does some big works for God.
There is no doubt that our church is doing something positive for God.
I don't know exactly how God will look down at our church because you see the list in Revelation 2 and 3.
And then God reveals things that maybe the church doesn't really realize are problems.
I'm sure that there are things that we could change.
I'm sure I'm not doing a perfect job.
But we are doing something.
We are getting some people saved.
We are doing a lot of soul winning.
We're getting people saved.
We have a goal to get churches started.
We're doing something for God.
But that doesn't mean that you individually are getting rewards just because you chose to come to this church.
I mean this is the church where your friends and family might mock you for coming.
So if you're already going to come and get mocked you might as well just join the work.
Otherwise why even be part of the church?
It's like we are a soul winning, a laboring church, but you individually are rewarded based on the work that you do.
Turn in your Bible to Romans 16.
See I want you to realize with these false churches it's not just that they preach some heresy.
The whole focus of the church is wrong in all their sermons.
Because they focus everything about man if you're godly it's money, money, money.
How much money did you give? How much money did you give? How much money do you give?
Our church, we look at Romans 16 and I'm thinking soul winning, labor, you're rewarded for your work.
Women matter because they go preach in the gospel too.
Paul humbles himself and values other people.
But then you got other people that would probably preach through this and I don't know.
Somehow they would tie this with money.
I mean it says in verse 5 about the church and their house.
Man it's all about having money.
You can have money so you can buy a big house so you can have a church in your house.
They tie it together with money somehow.
I don't know how they do it but that's probably how they do it.
Point number 4 is about Priscilla and Aquila.
Which is highlighting the fact that they do have a church in their house.
Romans 16 verse 3.
Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my helpers in Christ Jesus, who have for my life laid down their own necks
unto whom not only I give thanks but also all the churches of the Gentiles.
Likewise greet the church that is in their house.
Salute my well beloved Epinitis who is the firstfruits of Achaia unto Christ.
And the Bible says that Aquila and Priscilla, they had a church in their house.
Now look we've got to stop and think about these things because when you don't think about it
you could easily pass over but you've got to realize it's a big inconvenience to have a church in your house.
I mean you have to set up the chairs, you've got to store stuff there.
And realistically there's going to be kids and they're going to spill things
and you're going to have to vacuum it up, you're going to have to clean it up.
Whenever you have events it's like people might leave and you've got to do all the cleaning.
I mean this is a big inconvenience to start a church in your house
but Aquila and Priscilla said, you know what, we're willing to house a church.
Go to 1 Corinthians 16.
In fact this is actually a common method to how a church is started and it logically makes sense
because if you start a new church you probably don't have 100 members day one, right?
If you start a new church you're probably starting with 10, 15, 20 people.
You're not starting with a whole lot and here's the thing, if you start with 15 people
you're not going to be able to afford a building.
And look, especially in the Philippines, commercial real estate is very expensive.
It's about the same price as the United States.
The difference is the salaries are a lot higher in the U.S.
I literally don't know how people do it.
I mean commercial real estate is really expensive.
I mean if people visited us from the U.S. they would be shocked.
And look, this is a great deal for us at this church.
This church, this building is a great price for this area.
God has blessed us but in reality if people visited from the U.S.
they'd probably be shocked with how much we're paying for it.
It's like man, how is it that expensive?
Like you're paying that much?
Yeah, because the places over there are charging twice as much.
It's like this is a great deal for us but it's not cheap.
It's expensive.
And so look, in the U.S. I mean you've got 15, 20 members.
You can afford a building just based off the tithes.
It's like it's not the same situation here in the Philippines.
Commercial real estate is very expensive in the Philippines.
And one model that we will probably use through the years as we get new churches
is starting very small with meeting in a house.
You say why?
Why?
Because having zero rent is very helpful to a church that's very small that has low tithes
because it's going to be expensive to just rent a building from day one.
You might not be able to afford it.
And look, I want you to realize our church is not a church
just trying to live off of America our whole lives.
I believe the I in IFB is being independent.
And even from day one at our church we have tried to be as financially independent as possible.
And I believe that should be the goal as a church.
And whatever extra money comes in we can use that.
Praise the Lord for that.
That donations came in and we were able to buy air conditioning units and things such as that.
But I don't believe just being a leech and just taking off the sending church forever.
Because most missionaries out in the field, they're never independent.
Ever.
They're permanently, they are just dependent on the money coming in.
And look, I read a lot of missionary letters.
I mean, I read a lot of the missionary letters that come in, the Verity Baptists,
because these missionaries, they send out a missionary letter to every single person that there is.
And we get missionary letters from Pentecostals saying, can you support us?
It's like, do you not even care about the denomination?
You obviously know nothing about our church, right?
It's like, I'm pretty sure Pastor Mendez is not allowing some tongue-talking possessed person
getting up and saying why he should get money to start church wherever.
But it's just like, literally, these missionaries have been scared to death over the last year.
Why? Because their donations have gone down quite a bit.
And it's funny how when you read these things, like they're trying to,
and look, I'm sure it does help them get more donations,
but it's like they're talking about how, man, you know, we need this and this.
And it's like these churches already have vehicles, a fully paid-off building,
and then they're wanting more and more and more and more.
And it's just like, you know, you're doing okay.
I believe as a church you can start small, and if God blesses you with more money, you use it.
If not, then you don't.
If we couldn't afford this, it would just be fans in here.
Now, look, we're very happy for that, but I'm just saying it's just like this attitude,
like we deserve everything from day one.
It's not really a biblical attitude.
And in the Bible, you see churches that start in their house.
I mean, there's something about those old sermons from Faithful Word and Verity Baptist
when they're meeting in their houses, right?
And they're standing behind like a kitchen table and just pounding the kitchen table, right?
I mean, because now they have very professional audio equipment, and it sounds great.
And it's like sometimes people expect us to have all that stuff from day one.
It's like, look, we haven't been around for 10 years.
And it's just like, you know, it's not quite as easy, okay?
It's like go back and listen to the early sermons in those churches,
and you're like, what did he say, right?
But there's something about that because they started small, and they built it into something.
Right?
And in the Bible, you see, and look, when we started Verity Baptist Church Pampanga,
we met in a house.
You say, why?
Because it's expensive to run a church, especially as we're driving down there.
We got the invitations and all those things.
It's just like you got to start small.
And as the church grows, you can build on those things.
Where are we at?
1 Corinthians 16, did we look there yet?
Verse 19, 1 Corinthians 16, verse 19.
The churches of Asia salute you.
Aquila and Priscilla salute you much in the Lord with the church that is in their house.
The church in their house.
Go to Colossians 4.
Colossians 4.
You know, sometimes there's people out there.
They send out emails saying, man, we'd love to have a church in this area.
What will we have to do?
Well, go soul winning every single week as a group and build that up on your own
because you're not going to start a church plant with nobody there.
It's not just, oh, we're starting a church plant.
There's one person there.
It's not going to work.
It's like if you say, man, we're like minded.
Start a soul winning program there every week, every week, every week.
And if there's a group of people.
And then the other thing is do we have a place to meet?
Because if we're starting a church and the tithes are going to be this much,
it's like, well, we're not going to pay for a building that's going to cost this much.
Realistically.
Okay?
And look, maybe it would be different if our church had a permanent building
that we had already paid off and everything.
But we're not at that stage yet.
We've got to save up to reach that point, and that takes a lot of time.
It takes a lot of time to save up money to actually have a permanent building
and a permanent lot.
We're not at that point.
Maybe if we were, then we could use the money to do that stuff.
But you know what?
We're trying to save up for those sorts of goals.
So if we're starting a new church and the tithes are this much,
well, we're going to have to meet in the house.
You start with five people and the tithes are pretty small.
You're not going to rent a building if there's only five people.
You've got to work up to that point.
So in the Bible, you see a system of churches meeting in a house.
Colossians 4, verse 15.
Salute the brethren which are in Laodicea and in Memphis
and the church which is in his house.
Go to Philemon chapter 1.
Philemon 1.
I mean, logically speaking, you would never do that sort of setup financially,
where basically you're losing money here, here, here, here, and here
and never actually making it back.
You wouldn't do that sort of setup.
It works for Baptist churches here because they get a lot of money
from the U.S. in general.
This is reality.
They get a lot of money from the U.S.
And here's the thing.
It's good for the churches in the U.S.
because they don't want to go soul winning.
But they want to report that they get a lot of people saved.
So they can say, our church is responsible for getting 3,000 salvations this week,
even though they didn't do any of the soul winning and they got one salvation.
And what they do is they get churches to send them reports
where they get the same kids saved 50 straight weeks.
And they count them every single week.
We had an altar call.
We got 400 salvations.
It's like, this guy got baptized seven straight weeks.
It's like, how many times are you going to count the same person who keeps?
But this is a system where the missionaries are dependent on the sending church.
They don't want to become independent because they need the money.
So they're very happy in that system.
And the churches in the U.S. are happy, too.
Why?
We can look like we're doing something big for God when we're not doing any work.
At my old church in West Virginia, once a year, they had for the faith promise mission.
Who knows the faith promise missions?
Faith promise missions program.
So once a year, they had testimony time of what God had done through the faith promise missions.
Well, the people that are giving the testimonies are just members of the church.
And so it was a church that had testimony times.
And sometimes people had reports of salvation.
But they had the once a year of the faith promise missions testimony.
And all these people are coming up here that rarely go to church.
They never go soul winning.
And literally, I remember this one kid, so arrogant, so smug.
He got up there and he's like, you know, I just think to myself, you know,
one day I'm going to get to heaven and just all these people are going to greet me
and say, thank you so much for the money you gave me.
It helped me get saved.
And I'm just thinking, last I checked, pretty much all the Philippines missionaries,
Baptist missionaries, they're preaching a false gospel.
The money you're giving is going to people preaching a false gospel.
And the reason why that happens is because if you're supporting hundreds of missionaries,
you're supporting no one.
You have no idea what they're doing.
It's a joke.
It's a laughable system.
It's not like you listen to hundreds of sermons each week to know what they believe about repentance.
And what these missionaries do, they come into a church and they preach a generic sermon.
They don't tell you what their doctrine is.
Then they got their eight minute video and it's always these starving kids that they show in the video.
It's always just these videos, these stills of photos of like 20 kids and the song,
People need the Lord.
When will you realize?
It's like, you know, what I realize is salvation is by grace through faith alone.
And I realize you can look at the system and it's failed.
It's a joke.
It's laughable.
And look, it makes me mad now because my old church in West Virginia,
the number one country with missionaries that are supportive is the Philippines by far.
They send more missionaries and more money in the Philippines than any other country.
The only country close is Mexico.
Now there's a few reasons why.
For one, you know what, the Philippines is a very receptive country.
Especially in Asia, there's no country that's going to be more receptive.
And it's an English speaking country.
People can get saved in English.
And they're used to the King James Bible and Baptist churches.
So it's an area that can be very successful for missionaries.
And now I just think back to all the missionaries that we gave money to.
And I'm just like, man, probably most of them are just false prophets.
And what they do is they have the map on the wall of the world.
And they've got these safety pins or these clips or something all over the world
showing all the missionaries they support.
So we were a church that had 80 people on a Sunday morning.
45 of those or 50 of those were little kids on the bus routes.
So like 30 adults, right?
30 adults, 50 kids, and we supported around 80 missionaries.
You say, Brother Stuckey, how do you do that?
We gave them 27 pesos a month.
It's like instead of just using the money to just support one good missionary,
it's like we're supporting missionaries in Africa.
It's a con. It's a joke.
And they don't even know what they're teaching.
And literally, these missionaries, they have deputation for two years to raise money.
Then they come back on furlough after a time period.
And what furlough is is where you go back to all those churches after 10 years
and make sure they still give you money.
We had these missionaries that came back on furlough.
And look, our pastor, he wasn't even the one that first started supporting these people.
They had been supported for 30 years.
And a guy stood up, and literally this is what he preached.
He preached about soul winning, and four times during the sermon he said,
You must repent of your sins to be saved. Four times.
Because I remember people looked at me like they were shocked.
I wasn't shocked, but I was pretty mad.
But this is what he said. He's like, I don't want you to lose hope, soul winning.
He's like, you know what? You can go more than a decade preaching the gospel
without getting a single soul saved.
It's like, that's what we're paying?
It's like, are you telling us you've gotten zero souls saved
in the last 12 years of our church supporting you?
Look, I don't even care if you're in North Korea. You're going to get somebody saved.
And it's like, what is the money? I mean, it's a big joke.
See, in the Bible, getting churches started is the main focus,
but you get churches started not from a Bible college.
You get them started from a sending church,
and the sending church knows what's going on at that church.
You know the doctrine that's being preached, so if there are any problems, you can fix it.
And there's been church plants from like-minded churches where they had a church plant,
but they were overseeing it, problems came, they removed the problem, and the church went on.
But you can't do that if you're sending money to 200 different churches, like $5 a month.
You don't know what's going on.
Go to Romans 16. We'll close up. Romans 16. Romans 16. Romans chapter 16.
Romans chapter 16.
I mean, literally, if anyone listened to the sermon, they're like,
man, I'm here in the Philippines. I don't have a great church.
What's the secret to getting a good church started? Well, first, start soul winning.
Get a group that's going soul winning.
Because, look, I promise you, if an hour away from here in the province
and there was 25 people going soul winning each week, absolutely we'd get a church started there.
Absolutely. We certainly have men that have the capability of preaching, right?
We could certainly do the rotating schedule like we did with Pampanga.
I mean, if there was a group ready for that church, absolutely.
But the key is, is there a group ready? Because if not, it's just not logical to get a church started.
Right? We started Pampanga because we figured there was just enough people to get a church plant started.
You know, and it worked.
But if there was only one family, it's like, I feel bad for that family.
And look, some people email Verity Baptist in Sacramento, and I do feel bad for them.
They say, man, I'm in this town. There's no church. Can you please send someone?
But the reality is, if it's just one family, you can't start a church plant with just one family.
It's just not logical. Right?
Romans 16. So point number one, the importance of women. Point two, Paul valued other people.
Point three, it's based on the work you do.
Point four, we see Priscilla and Aquila and the church and their house.
And point five, the last thing I want to talk about is this,
that good churches during the day of Paul the Apostle were aware of other good churches.
Because nowadays you've got the online ministry and say, man, what a blessing,
because we know about these churches all over the world that are doing the work.
But in Paul's day, they knew about each other.
Romans 16, verse 16, salute one another with an holy kiss.
The churches of Christ salute you. Okay?
Now, I think it goes without saying, but when it says the churches of Christ, it's not referring to that. Okay?
But it's saying the churches that are saved and preaching the right gospel and doing something for God,
and Paul says, hey, these churches salute you. Why?
Well, they knew about the Romans doing a big work.
And you say, well, how did this happen 2,000 years ago without the cell phone to tell people?
Word of mouth.
And if you remember at the beginning of Romans, it talks about that their faith was spoken of throughout the whole world.
People all over the world knew the work they're doing.
Now, look, the online ministry is a great blessing that we can reach people,
but in reality, even in Paul the Apostle's day, the word of God got out to the ends of the world,
and people knew about other churches.
They didn't obviously hear all the sermons, but they heard about, hey, there's a group in whatever city that's doing a big work for God.
They were aware of it because of the word of mouth.
So what's the focus in Romans 16? It's all about the work being done.
It's the labor. It's the soul winning. It's the work being done.
The church is being started. It's all about the work.
Let's close in a word of prayer.
Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here today and getting to see your word on this topic of Romans 16,
help us to always be a church that labors, that works hard individually as a church,
that we go soul winning and get people saved.
Help us also to be a church that labors to get new churches started
and to help jump start those churches and get the soul winning programs started.
Help us to find more areas where we can get churches started, God,
and help us have more soul winners at our church here so we can reach more people with the gospel.
We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.
Alright, let's sing our last song, song number 101.
Song number 101, let's sing Jesus Never Fails.
Jesus Never Fails, song number 101.
Song number 101, let's sing Jesus Never Fails.
Let's sing on the verse.
Jesus Never Fails, Jesus Never Fails.
Have never picked us away,
but Jesus never failed on the last.
In life's dark and bitter heart,
the will still prevail.
Trust is everlasting art,
Jesus will not fail.
Jesus Never Fails, Jesus Never Fails.
Have that earthly pass away,
but Jesus never fails.
Amen. Let's pray. Dear Father, thank you for this singing service that we have.
Thank you for the preaching that we have heard.
And thank you for being in this church that loves the soul,
loves the soul winning, and loves the word.
And thank you for everything you've done.
Please help us as we go soul winning this afternoon.
Give us people that are ready and willing to listen to the gospel.
And thank you for giving us the nice weather.
And thank you for everything you've done.
We love you, and Jesus never prayed. Amen.
All right, we're dismissed.